The Flash: The Muschettis Would Not Have Made This Film Without Michael Keaton

After a long production process full of ups and downs, "The Flash" is quickly approaching its silver screen debut. The Ezra Miller-led feature has made headlines for ages now, though many of these haven't been of the positive variety. Nevertheless, many DC fans are eager to see the movie after all this time, with no shortage of folks prepared to go to their local cinema just to see Michael Keaton suit up as Batman once again. According to Andy and Barbara Muschietti, without him, they wouldn't have made the film in the first place.

"We wouldn't have made this movie. We wouldn't have been able to make this movie as it is. We made it clear to him the first time we sat with him for lunch if he had said no, it would have been a completely different story," Barbara explained during an interview with Collider to promote "The Flash." Andy then jokes that somewhere in the seemingly infinite multiverse, there is a version of "The Flash" without Keaton, though Barbara notes that they wouldn't be the ones responsible for it.

Thankfully for the Muschiettis, it didn't take a whole lot of convincing to get Keaton on board. Here's what he had to say about returning to the role of Batman after a whopping three decades away.

Before returning for "The Flash," Michael Keaton hadn't played Batman since 1992 for "Batman Returns." By the time "The Flash" premieres, it will have been over 30 years since "Batman Returns" controversially graced cinemas. That's a long time between performances of the same character, which Keaton has shared was one of the motivating factors behind him donning the cowl once again."So I thought, 'Well, now that they're asking me, let me see if I can pull that off,'" Keaton told The Hollywood Reporter.

Thus, the pitch presented to him of playing Batman again was all it took for Keaton to sign on. Of course, he also had to know what the story would entail, and while he struggled to wrap his head around all of the multiversal shenanigans of the feature, it wasn't confusing enough for him to back out. If anything, working as the DC Comics icon once more was an eye-opening experience for Keaton as "The Flash" came together. He continued, "I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it. I respect what people are trying to make."

The Michael Keaton-featuring "Flash" races into cinemas on June 16.